Tin-plate-cleaning machine



W. L. McKEAN.

TIN PLATE CLEANING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-28, 1917. RENEWED 91.24. 192:.

I Patented May 2,1922. I

I I 4 2 FIE-L1- r 4 I a Y a 7 INVENTOR wn-usssss OF PENNSYLVANIA.

- WILLIAM'L; MCKEAN, or'manrms FERRY, APPLIANCE oonranr, on rrrrsnnnen,

OHIO, ass enon To STEEL WORKS rENns Lvr-iniaa CORPORATION TIN-PLATE-CLEANING' MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Batent. Patented May 2, 1922.

Application filed August 28; 1917, SerialrNo. 188,625, Renewed' September 24, 1921. Serial No. 502,997.

To c-tZZ whom it may. concern; i

Be it known that LlVILLIAM L. M KEAN, residing at Martins Ferry, in the county of Belmont and State of Ohio, a citizen of the United States, have invented "or discovered certain new and useful Improvement in Tins Plate-Cleaning Machines, of which improve merit-the following is a specification.

In the operation ofa tin plate cleaning machine, the plates or sheets are transferred endless belt t'hata sheet or plate willoverlap to a greater or less extent a preceding sheet,

and the sheets be fed into the cleaning machine in 'such overlapping positions, and hence POIUODS of both sheets w1l'l not be sub jected to the action of the cleaning rolls.

The invention described herein has for its theprovision of means whereby theobject movement of the one of two overlapping sheets is arrested until the other sheet has been moved entirely away from the rear: sheet. The lllVBIltlOIl 1s hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

in the accompanying draw1ng,form1ng a part of this specification, Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the frontportion of a leaning machine including the feed rollers,-a con: veyor whereby the sheets are carried to the latter and the improvementclaimed herein} l 2 is a top plan view of the same.

In the practice of the invention the clean; ing machine is constructed in the usual or. any suitable manner and in rront thereof are arranged feed rollers as is customary, said rollers consisting of a plurality of spaced discs 2 secured'upon driven shafts 3, These feed rollers are arranged in such relatlon to the machine as to feed the sheets into the bite of the first pair of cleaning rollers 4;. In front of the feed rollers is arranged a suitable transferring mechanism such as an endless belt 5 passing around suitable pulleysfi,

one or both of which may bedriven to carry the sheets deposited upon the belt, forward into the bite'of the feed rollers. As these sheets drop onto the belt from the'tinning machine, the front edge of one sheet may, and frequently does, lap onto or extend under the rear edge of the preceding sheet and both sheets are carried forward in such position into the feed rollers andby them passed into the cleaning machine. By reathe sheets are not subjected to the action of the cleaning machine.

lno-rder to insure the movement of all the sheets-or plates .into the cleaning machine, each entirely clear of any preceding or iron lowing sheet, provision is made for engaging the forwardedge' of asheet which laps onto or extends underthe'rear edge of a prece d-H mg sheet and to holdsuch following'sheet stationary untilthe overlapping relation has been changed. Convenient means for effect- I ing this separation of the sheets consists in radial fingers 7 .;-having their-inner ends secured to collars 8 mounted upon the shafts 3 intermediate of the spaceddiscs 2 forming the feed rollers. lThese ,collars; are so mounted as to be frictionally driven by the shafts so that when the outer end of'the finger rests upon a sheet the shaft can rotate independent of the collar. These fingers, are

so formed that their outer ends will project beyond the peripheries of the feed rollers,

asclearlyshown in Fig. 1;

, Inthe operation of the machine,-the 01 lars-with their'fingers are carriedaround by frictional engagement with the shafts until the ends of the fingers rest npon'the sheet passing into the bite of the feed rollers,

whereupon the. movement of the fingers and collars is arrested until the rear edge of such. sheet. has passed beyond the fingers whenthe latter will be carried around by frictional engagement with. the "shafts Each of the collarsis provided with a plurality of fingers so as to insure a'finge'r being broughtto bear against the upper or under side of a sheet as it'is carried into the bite of the rolls by the belt. If the rear portion of the sheet in the bite of the rollers is overlapped by or overlaps another sheet, the fingore b earing lightly on such sheet'will en gage the forward'edge of the rear sheet and hold it as against movement until after the preceding "sheet has passed beyond the finger. whereupon the finger will be carried but of the way of the following sheet which,

can then. be moved forwardinto the bite of the rollers. V

WVhil'e it is usual for the frontend of a succeeding sheet to lap onto-the rear end of a preceding sheet, the reverse. occurs oc-v casionally and hence it is preferred to arrange these arresting fingers on the shafts of boththe upper and the lower feed rollers as shown.

The frictional engagement of the shafts with the collarscarrying the fingers causes the latter to yieldinglybear on the sheets and will insure the prompt movement of the collars and fingers as soon as a sheet has i bination oflowerand upper feed wheels oppa-ssed beyond the ends of the fingers toward the cleaning machine.

I'claim herein-as my invention: 7

I 1. The combination of a tin plate cleaning machine with means for feeding the plates to said machine and means adapted to engage the front end of a sheet overlapping another i without interrupting the forward movementfof-the sheet nearer the cleaning machine and to move out of engagement with the rear sheet.

r 2. The combination of a tin plate cleaning machine with means for feeding the plates to sa1d machine and means for preventing 'therearmo'st of two overlapping sheets from moving between the rolls of the cleaning ma- V p chine until the rront sheet has passed out of overlapping relation with therear sheet; 3. The combination of a tin plate cleaning machine with means for feeding plates to said machine, movable fingers and means for applying a yielding pressure to said fingers to move them across and o'ut of the path of movement of sheets being fed to the cleaning'machine.

.4. The combination of feed rollers of a tin plate cleaning machine, -means for feeding plates to said rollers and frictionally operated fingers adapted to bear on the plates as they aremoved into the bite of the rollers,

' 5 The combination of a tin plate cleaning machine with means for feeding the plates to the machine and means operative in conjunction with the feeding means on over lapping plates to cause one of such plates to be shifted out of such overlapping relation to the other. V 6. The combination of feed rollers consisting of a plurality of spaced discs, collars arranged on the shafts of said rollers intermy hand.

fin ers extendin radiall from collarsbea: =3 yond-t-he perlpher es of the discs, and means for feeding plates into the bite of saidv rollers.

7. In a sheets'ep'arating means, the composed to each other, lower and upper loosely rotatable disks opposed to each other, and

ing lower and upper disks one of which. is

provided with blades that extend beyond its perimeter. v

9. In a conveyor for sheets, means for pre venting the feeding of sheets in superposed relation, .saidmeans comprising a constantly rotated shaft overlying the'path of travel of said sheets, a hub frictionally carried by q and rotatable on said shaft, and fingers car ried by sald hub, said fingers belng so disposed thatv one'thereof rides upon the top surface of an advancing sheet and obstructs the advance of a second sheet in superposed relation to the first-mentioned sheet.

10. In a conveyor for sheets, means for preventing the feeding of sheets in superposed relation, said means comprising a member rotatably mounted over the path of 7,

travel of said sheets and out of engagement with sheets traveling in said. path, a plurality of spaced radial fingers carried by said member, said fingers being so disposed that one thereof rides upon the top surface of an advancing sheet in a position presenting its end in arresting relation 'to a second sheet having its front end in closely overlapping relation to the firstrmentloned sheet, and that the next succeeding finger automatically assumes like riding relation to such secondsheet when the first-mentioned sheet .has

passed out of reach of said fingers.

' In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set WILLIAM MCKEAN. 

